Bobby Crosby. Bob Hamelin. Jason Jennings. Kazuhiro Sasaki. Immortals all, each of whom got their start with the Rookie of the Year Award. Who will join their esteemed ranks today, as the major post season awards begin to be rolled out?

AL: Multiple candidates here. Elvis Andrus probably deserved a Gold Glove this year. And though his bat wasn’t anything to write home about, it wasn’t an embarrassment, and at 21 there is every reason to expect a bright future. But the Rookie of the Year Award is less about projectablitiy than it is about what happened in year one. Rick Porcello is just as young and just as projectable as Andrus, but probably had a better season in a playoff race. Gordon Beckham overcame his own manager’s initial reluctance to play him and, before it was said and done, was about the only reliable guy in the lineup.

Beckham has won a couple of non-BBWAA rookie awards so far this postseason. If I had to bet, I’d say he takes home the official Rookie of the Year Award as well. None of those three would be a bad choice.

NL: Four guys have an argument: Tommy Hanson, J.A. Happ, Andrew McCutchen and Chris Coghlan. Because the latter two get way less attention due to their Pittsburghality and Floridaness, I think it will come down to the two pitchers. Happ and Hanson had a similar number of innings and a similar ERA, but Happ was up earlier and pitched from the pen some, which may make him seem more valuable and versatile and all of that to the voters.

I’d clearly want Hanson long term — better arm, better stuff — but I think Happ probably gets it by virtue of the key role he played on a division winner (remember: the votes came in before the playoffs started, so the postseason doesn’t enter into it).

Overall, there’s always way less to argue about with the Rookie of the Year Award than there is with the other awards that’ll come out in the next eight days. None of the folks mentioned here will be silly choices. Indeed, hardly any Rookie of the Year choices ever seem silly at the time. As the Hamelin and Sasaki choices show, It takes some years for the true humor to reveal itself.

For that matter, why no mention of Keyser Soze?
But seriously folks, I watched Coughlin play (from the safety of my den, anyway, since I refuse to (a) pay for Marlins tickets when the team’s cheapskate owners keep trading our best players away and (b) I refuse to attend games of any kind in any buildings with silly names, like the former Joeprophins Stadium now renamed yet again, beaucoup idiotically, “Land Shark Stadium;” wake me up when they name it “Macondo Field” and maybe I’ll go down there for a couple of rallies.)
Anyway, Coughlin: you watched the kid learn focus and discipline from his callup to the end of the season and you can’t help but be impressed with the kind of hitter he has become. I don’t necessarily see him as a middle-of-the-order power hitter but you feed him to Jillian Michaels for a season and you could wind up with the next Wade Boggs.
Unlike what became of Wade, of course, Jillian can train him to keeps his hands off.

Bobby Crosby. Bob Hamelin. Jason Jennings. Kazuhiro Sasaki. Immortals all, each of whom got their start with the Rookie of the Year Award. Who will join their esteemed ranks today, as the major post season awards begin to be rolled out?

Sandoval had 145 at bats in 2008 so he used up his rookie status that year. Players lose their rookie status after they have compiled any of:
130 at bats
50 innings pitched
45 days on a major league roster.

Or of course it could be that Berroa won because he had just as good, or possibly better, a year offensively as Matsui in 2003 while playing SS as opposed to OF.
Berroa ended up awful but he was a deserving ROY winner in 2003, his batting average was identical to Matsui, his slugging % was higher and his OPS marginally higher and Berroa was 21/5 in steals.

Congratulations after all to Chris Coughlan. The kid earned it. Spread his numbers over an entire season and you’ve got some idea of what a lineup built around him and Hanley Ramirez could do….if you didn’t already know that our cheapskate ownership down here will turf them both out well before they reach their peaks, even with Loria’s long-coveted Scrooge McDuck Field ready by 2011.